Word play is a way of making a story entertaining. It gives the story certain qualities, similar to the sing-songy way a poem is read. By simply putting words in a specific order, or rearranging the sentence, it can give emphasis on ideas you want the reader to focus on. An author uses word play to give the reader a little amusement. They also use word play to get you to focus on ideas. Its used reinforce meanings.
A great example of word play is Dr. Seuss, who utilizes many types of wordplay. Younger children enjoy reading Dr. Seuss, because of its light-hearted feel created by the the wordplay. When reading some of Dr. Seuss' books, you get the gist of the book, which is nothing. There is little sense in what is writted, but the delightful choice of words and their positions in the sentence makes reading it seem to fit together. I will relate what I just said to a piece of music. If you hit random notes on a piano, it won't click. The music is doesn't sound right. You need to place them in the correct order to "solve the puzzle".
Word play is often in oral lore. Even as you read, the reason the word feel right is usually because the way the word sounds. By word play, a story teller can reinforce ideas. They make it so you can remember the story easier. If you stripped a poem of all possibly word play, the result would not only be an ear-strainer, but pretty difficult to remember.
Word play is a way of making a story entertaining. It gives the story certain qualities, similar to the sing-songy way a poem is read. By simply putting words in a specific order, or rearranging the sentence, it can give emphasis on ideas you want the reader to focus on. An author uses word play to give the reader a little amusement. They also use word play to get you to focus on ideas. Its used reinforce meanings.
A great example of word play is Dr. Seuss, who utilizes many types of wordplay. Younger children enjoy reading Dr. Seuss, because of its light-hearted feel created by the the wordplay. When reading some of Dr. Seuss' books, you get the gist of the book, which is nothing. There is little sense in what is writted, but the delightful choice of words and their positions in the sentence makes reading it seem to fit together. I will relate what I just said to a piece of music. If you hit random notes on a piano, it won't click. The music is doesn't sound right. You need to place them in the correct order to "solve the puzzle".
Word play is often in oral lore. Even as you read, the reason the word feel right is usually because the way the word sounds. By word play, a story teller can reinforce ideas. They make it so you can remember the story easier. If you stripped a poem of all possibly word play, the result would not only be an ear-strainer, but pretty difficult to remember.